Big Bilateral Billboard Brow
by Slats
Summary: (Written in boredom, not proofread) Sakura is suddenly faced with an ethical dilemma after finding an injured shinobi. Although she didn't realize it at the time, her actions have consequences. Will her act of heroism give her a standing ovation or a life sentence? She was only doing her duty, but the question remains... Did her foolish heart lead her of course? Post episode 143.


Big Bilateral Billboard Brow

This is literally just something I wrote in a blur of inspiration, it's not proof read or anything. Might update it but idk. If you like it, great! If you don't it's understandable. Have a good read.

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She had never particularly enjoyed rain, for instance Ino always said that the 'wet look' had never been in the books for her. Comparing her to the cover models who gracefully exited a pool with the whole shining droplets and the shiny, wet hair sleeked back -kind of effect. She just didn't compare, Sakura had according to Ino the kind of reaction to humidity likewise that of a dog. Her otherwise unique and reputable tresses became stringy and crumpled together, creating this uncanny resemblance to a ball of hay. Or a bird's nest. A washed out, crumpled, lilacky, pink- or- mauve-ish bird's nest. Which in return would undoubtably be uninhabited, cause what bird in its right mind would settle for something that looked positively hazardous.

Her mind wandered again, it usually did when she was returning from duty. This mission had been particularly grueling, boring even, considering its purpose was solely to collect medicinal herbs for the laboratory. She had a sneaky suspicion that her mentor sent her on this mission as sort of a vacation. A week long, fully paid stay at a hot spring, which in fact turned out to be a fully equipped spa deep in the mountains of the land of cedar. She had also been given a rather handsome mission allowance, and no return date. She could have payed to stay at the inn for quite some time but decided otherwise. As of now she was jumping through the thick forest in the outskirts of the fire nation. And the rain had started pouring seemingly out of nowhere.

Sakura sort of felt like the only times she could really think was in this kind of situations. The reason being that she longed for home, she was uncomfortable, and the journey was long. What is a mind to do when faced with such cruel circumstance, how does it occupy itself? It leaves. It travels of to ponder or day dream, reminiscing about sunny days in fields of marigold. Or it takes a good old rendezvous back to that little corner of self-loathing we all have. As it did in her case.

Her foot connected with a thick branch and halted her speedy journey. The downpour was coming down aggressively compared to the light drizzle just minutes ago. This part of the branch was well hidden in the thick shrubbery of the tree and was still relatively dry. She settled in the nook between that main stem of the tree and the branch and unstrapped her pack. The sizable white net containing her herbal harvest was used as a back support and her cape protected her from hypothermia. This part of the forest was dark, and it also looked reasonably untouched which was rare in the outskirts of the border. Foreign patrols often crossed over into each other's territory in search of civilian hikers or protentional intruders. But the state of flora was rare, had she somehow in her lucid state manoeuvred off-course? It was possible, but she had passed a jounin check point earlier with the hidden leaf symbol. She regarded it as unlikely and set up a widespread genjutsu across the surrounding area. Anyone crossing into the area would likely not detect it and most certainly not detect her. She had perfected the technique whilst working unbearably long hospital shifts. Snuggling up in a janitor's closet, underneath a desk in the laboratory or on rare occasions; the nurses supply closet containing freshly laundered sheets and duvets.

Back to her little treetop sanctuary, her ears started to peak as the wildlife settled with her presence they slowly started going about their night. Under the hammering of the rainfall she detected the soft thud of hooves on moist soil, she heard the flapping of wings as birds returned to their nests to wait out the storm. Since the clouds covered the moon she could only make out the direction the little light was coming from and she would guesstimate the time to around midnight. Tomorrow she would reach the village, she could have made it by daybreak if she really pushed herself. But she was in no rush and she saw no reason to ruin her current daytime rhythm over superstitial exercise.

She felt her eyes grow heavy, she knew that Naruto had cleared his roaster for her return since his birthday was coming up. He would be waiting by the gates, guarantied. The gesture made her heart swell, she loved that idiot and she would give him the world if that was his desire. She couldn't wait to get back and continue her matchmaking conspiracy with Ino to finally bring him and Hinata together. She felt a last tug on the corners of her mouth before her consciousness slipped and she fell deeply asleep to the sound of the harsh rain.

She jolted awake as one of her legs slipped off the branch. This was odd, she never ever moved in her sleep whilst on duty. If there was anything Tsunade had taught her during her ruthless training regiment, it was that the only parts of the body moving whilst asleep was the lungs and the heart. So why on earth had her leg slipped? She looked up at the night sky, the heavy rain still pouring. The moon had certainly moved, she had perhaps had four hours of restful sleep. Then she felt it, a deep rumble in the forest, like an earthquake far, far away. The tree she was currently occupying shivered with the quake and her questions were answered. If she was ignorant she would call it an earthquake and continue her journey, but ignorant she was not. The shinobi part of her instantly recognised the quake as the aftershock of a major, largescale battle.

As soon as that realization hit her, the fear came rushing in. Could it be Naruto? Had the Akatsuki finally come for him and he was trying to fend for himself? Perhaps he had relocated the scene of the battle out towards the border to prevent civilian casualties!

This conclusion, concocted by her own mind in panic made her body move on its own, she darted off into the shrubbery to find the source of the rumbles. She had no doubt, this had to be it. She unbuckled her cape, the heavy rain-soaked material was only slowing her down. But she kept the herbs in case she was met with a slaughter. She pushed energy to her legs, skipping dozens of branches with every jump. She leaned forward becoming more and more horizontal with the ground, packing herself into a dense arrow to create as much velocity as possible. She sped off like a bolt of sweaty and panicky lightning, urging her legs on to reach her target. The rumbling subsided, and her desperation increased tenfold. Had he already been captured? Would he be gone like Gaara? Would she make it in time? Every microsecond counted at this point, the screaming pleas from the muscle in her legs never reached her adrenalin drugged brain and so she crushed on through the trees. Stomping and panting, wasting as little energy as possible, yet utilising every ml of strength and stamina. She glimpsed a structure resembling a stronghold up ahead. She branched her chakra outwards, casting a net of the surround area to get a hint of what the had coming. As soon as her senses tuned in on the stronghold, an unfamiliar wave of chakra washed over her. Like a surge of something dark and unknown. And then it vanished.

As soon as she reached the treeline the structure came into full view. And she soon realized that the stronghold was demolished. She sped on towards it, scanning through the rubble for survivors, for anything really. She landed harshly on what looked to be a structurally sound piece of rubble. The dust was just starting to settle from the demolition. Sakura heaved for her breath and her keen eye combed through the scenery. She found nothing. There was certainly evidence of a battle, blood, weapons scattered everywhere, but no casualties and no survivors. She glimpsed the colour red from somewhere below her and she jolted her head downwards to the large stone slap she was standing on. The slab had an all too familiar symbol carved and painted onto it. There was no doubt that this stronghold had belonged to the Uchiha. The fan was tattooed into the stone, the very symbol of the power bloodlines could produce.

A desperate spark of hope flared inside her. Could it be? She dared to ask herself. A tinder lighting up in her heart. She started looking for him, not daring to even think his name as if it might jinx her chances. She searched high and low until finally she spotted something. The chakra signature was so feint, no wonder she didn't sense it. It was a lifeless figure slumped onto the stone.

She approached with heist, the body reeked of burning flesh, blood and sweat. She knelt before the body and scanned its face, it was too disfigured and swollen to conclude as his. But this man was still alive, and he drew resembles to the man she hoped he would be. And so, her inner medic got to work. She turned the body over on its back and started the first aid checklist routine. Patient male, currently to disfigured to identify. Airways partly clogged with blood and mucus, respiration shallow and barely detectable. Her chakra flooded his system uncovering every secret his body held hidden. Circulation; heartbeat strained and dangerously low the walls of his heart were dilated, and the aortic valve was regurgitating. Her list would have to wait, the regurgitation could spiral him into cardiac arrest at any moment. She flared her chakra out to every cell in his body, forcing his metabolic activity to slow down briefly and kick start haemostasis. She ordered is blood cells to force coagulation and hurriedly clog every major injury down to each individual scrape on his skin. He would need a massive blood transfusion, but as of now she would just have to make sure he didn't lose any more of what little he had. She simultaneously worked on his aortic valve, pumping the tiny muscular structure full off chakra and tensing in up. She made it stiff enough to only pass small amounts of blood with every palpitation of the heart. This way his brain would be severely deprived of oxygen but since she slowed down his metabolism his temperature would drop, and he might avoid brain damage. This was the most half-assed yet thorough treatment this man would hopefully ever receive in his life. She opened her standard medical holster and pulled out an emergency IV kit. She sanitized her hands and then his hand. She smacked on pair of latex gloves and ripped open the sterile packaging around the needle. She smacked his hand harshly a couple of times, he was so dehydrated she had to make small localized swellings in his veins to make them pop out enough for her to not puncture them. Good strong veins appeared, and she inserted the needle swiftly, the valve at the end filled with a few droplets of blood telling her that the IV was secure. She drew back the metal needle and left the plastic tube securely inside his hand. She taped it down and connected it to a liter sized emergency pack of ringer acetate all medics had in the breast pocket of the standard-gear vest. Although it would have been much easier to find a sturdy vein in his elbow she needed to give him liquids at a point lower than where the bag was located. She set the drip to a slow rhythm as to not dilute his blood too much. Lastly, she uncapped a prepared syringe of sedatives, a very mild nonintructive medication that would keep him out of discomfort would he by any miracle gain conciseness again. If not, he would not die in pain. She disinfected the nook of his elbow and skillfully administered the anesthesia.

Sakura took a few seconds to stress down, she pulled her gloves off and examined the mans features again. His face was still severely swollen, his hair was long and black, and it crowned around him like a dirty, scruffy mess. He had bruises and moist blood creasing up in his eyelids as if his very eyes had been bleeding. Sakura hosted the body onto her back and made sure that the tubing connected to his hand was free of any tangles. And so, she rushed towards Konoha.

"I kind of envy you, how come you are so good at this?" Kotetsu and asked his partner. Izumo pushed another shogi piece onto another slot and efficiently ended the game. "You know." He pondered. "I took a beating from that Nara kid a while back and I think that taught me a thing or two." Izumo replied sheepishly. The rain was still coming down hard this early in the morning. They had worked all through the night in this little booth of theirs. Kotetsu grabbed the visitation book and went over the numbers. Izumo took the hint and went over the roaster for the day. They worked in silence, making schedules for the next shift as to whom was expected, the current village capacity and so forth. Suddenly they both tensed up, they felt a flair of chakra, an emergency call from a distance away. It was a technique used only by medics to warn of severely injured friendlies. They both knew what the signal meant and gave each other a curt nod. Izumo flicked over the counter, spreading paperwork out into the rain but this failed his attention. He set off out from the gates and towards the signal. Kotetsu sett off to the hospital to warn the staff at the ER for an emergency of unknown capacity.

Sakura glimpsed the gates from the treetops, she could have taken the road, but the branches made her acceleration much greater and it provided partial cover from the aggressive rain. "Oi! Sakura!" She saw Izumo standing on a branch up ahead, ready to follow her. As soon as she passed he fell into steps with her. "Male, mid-twenties, severely injured. I had to stop on my way to revive him because he fell into cardiac arrest." She reported curtly. They performed a sleek manoeuvre mid-air and transferred the man between them. Izumo locked his arms around the man, keeping him securely against his back. Sakura followed closely to keep the fluids flowing into the patient. They entered the gates of the village and followed the rooftop path to the hospital. Sakura and Izumo skipped through the ER doors currently help up by a doctor and Kotetsu. Several gurneys awaited them in the reception area, nurses, surgeons, all available staff on standby. Two intensive care nurses peeled the man off Izumo and gently placed him onto a stretcher. Sakura handed the half-emptied bang of IV fluids to one of the nurses and reported to a team of staff. Two surgeons followed Sakura behind the gurney as it slipped into the ER and into an operating theatre. The surgeons followed with her strict instructions as she herself went off to the female locker room.

Sakura entered the wardrobe and tore her locker open, she peeled her wet uniform off and threw it into the hamper. She wrenched off the soaking wet sweater and proceeded to romove every remaining layer, the standard Kevlar vest and the fishnet t-shirt went into the closet. Completely dressed down nude she jumped into the shower and used the antibacterial soaps to clean every inch of herself. Fully cleaned she walked back out and to her morbid surprise was suddenly faced with Ino who handed her an unfolded towel. Sakura yelped and quickly wrapped herself up. "Ino! Couldn't you just have placed the towel on the ledge or something?" Sakura asked, flustered with embarrassment. "Come on forehead! I've seen you naked before, besides there is no chance you would have seen the towel." She laughed and explained. "Besides I know you too well, you are going into that theatre and there is no stopping you, so I decided to help." Ino proceeded to explain with a shrug. "Now sit and eat."

There was a plate of smoked salmon onigiri sitting on the bench beside a bottle of water. Sakura smiled and sat down without complaint and chowed down on the food. Ino dried off her hair with a towel whilst simultaneously using her healing chakra to lower the levels of lactic acid in Sakura's muscles. Ino proceeded with a hairdryer that conveniently was already plugged in and continued healing the damaged muscle tissue of Sakura's upper body. "I needed that" Sakura announced and got up, she put on the fresh pair of green scrubs from her locker and dashed back into the ER. Ino followed her into the wash room to help Sakura scrub in for surgery. Sakura picked the dirt and grime of under her short nails and disinfected her arms up to her elbows. Ino helped her into the sterile surgery gown whilst Sakura put on the gloves. Lastly Ino tucked Sakura's hair into the surgical cap and put the mask on. "Thank you" Sakura huffed before swinging into the theatre and resume her position in charge.

To her surprise the two surgeons had now multiplied into six, and they were all working diligently to keep the man alive. "Report" she barked and one of the assistant nurses rushed to her side. "The surgeons are combining medical ninjutsu with traditional means of surgery in order to not kill him." Sakura gave a curt nod but interrupted the nurse. "I'm aware of the consequences but give me the short version, I'll ask where I need details." The nurse complied and continued her report. "We found 46 total fractures, multiple organ failures including the liver, kidneys and the spleen. We have also discovered he has a respiratory illness and it looks to be respiratory fibrosis but it's too early to tell without further testing. We are using medical ninjutsu to heal the organs and partially to set some of the larger fractures, but the rest will be sutured and screwed to heal on its own. His heart is equivalent to that of a 70-year-old probably because of the pulmonary disease. He-" The nurse stopped herself suddenly and Sakura met her frightened look. "What?" Sakura urged her on. "He has the sharingan." She mumbled. Sakura gasped, could it really be him? His face was now covered in tubing from intubation and wires from monitor, but he was still gruesomely swollen and disfigured. Sakura took her place beside her colleagues and started the first steps to perform an open-heart surgery and fix his valve.

18 hours later and Sakura came wobbling out of the theatre. He was finally stable but not out of the waters yet. Their discovery about the man's heritage and the fact that he was still in critical condition, made them induce a medical coma. He would be in the ICU in a locked room for months to come. But although her mind was racing with unanswered questions there was only one priority left. Sleep. Her chakra levels were exhausted and there was nothing she could do but to take care of herself next. She tore the sterile equipment off her and dragged herself into the locker room. She tore a fresh lab coat out of the closet before heading home, not even bothering to change. She sagged through the streets like an exhausted zombie, keeping to the shadows as to not attract too much attention. Time wasn't even a concept to her anymore, she just wanted her tiny flat, with her tiny bedroom and her big bed. Eventually she reached the stairs up to her third-floor apartment. Every single fibre and cell in her body screamed as she escalated them. She pulled herself up using the railing with both hands, this had to look positively comical to anyone daring to watch.

The third-floor passageway curled around the building under a roof, this was the entrance to her apartment. But Sakura continued around to the back where she was faced with a tall divider that gave her balcony some privacy. In the chaos that recently unfolded, she had not only lost her cargo but also the vest containing her keys. Sakura released a groan. Fuck keys. She crawled onto the ledge leading to her apartment exceptionally ungracefully and proceeded to collapse into a sack of exhaustion on her small veranda. She knocked over every plant and the small table, she was also pretty sure she broke the chair. Her body quivered as she crawled on all fours over to the sliding doors that were never locked. Like a tired, unmotivated worm she shrugged the lab coat off inside the living room and pulled herself into the bedroom by the elbows. Why hadn't she just stayed in the ER? There were plenty of space to sleep there. But no, her stubborn ass had to be home because only god knew how long she would be knocked out for. She pulled her upper body onto the bed and yanked the top part of her scrubs over her head, with every last bit of strength she got the rest of her body onto the mattress and kicked the pants off. She pulled the covers over her, or did she? She had no idea, the world had gone dark.

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That's it, like it? Hate it? Leave a comment, I love opinions.

-Slats


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